U.S. Lodging Managers and the Internet: Perceptions from the Industry

A survey of 454 U.S. hotel managers found that their chief perception of the internet is that it will someday be an effective marketing and communications tool, although it isn't now particularly useful for anything. The managers in particular saw little application of the internet as a tool for training. Indeed, although the managers themselves used the internet, they considered it less important for their employees than for themselves. Ironically, respondents with greater exposure to the internet rated its present usefulness lower than those with no internet experience. On the other hand, those same experienced users gave the internet's future prospects a much higher rating than did the tyros. Likewise, managers from small properties gave dimmer reviews to the internet's current value than did managers from large properties. One overriding concern shown by many respondents is for the security of data transmitted via the internet.